Air Force drone crash closes remote Fla. highway

An Air Force drone being tested at a nearby base crashed on takeoff Wednesday near a remote stretch of a Florida Panhandle highway. Officials say no one was injured but the road would be closed into Wednesday night.

The Air Force closed Highway 98 west of Panama City and east of Mexico Beach because of possible fires from the crash. Officials said the drone has a limited, 24-hour battery life and would be inactive after the battery depleted.

According to an Air Force fact sheet, the QF-4 is tested at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base and at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The plane is a modified F-4 Phantom aircraft, which has been in use since the 1950s.